Denise's Year

"Ok! OK! That's enough," he said, holding her arm out so she couldn't tickle him anymore.

They settled down and talked a bit more. They chatted about his hectic work schedule and how it's kept him away from visiting her, his idiotic former roommates, their Christmas plans, she admonished him for not having a Christmas tree put up, she asked about food and so on. They decided to eat what he had in the apartment, then go to the store on the 26th. She was able to bring his presents, but they were in her car. He had one for her. They decided to exchange them on Christmas Day morning.

"Getting a little sleepy here," he said.

"Me too. It's been a horrible day, but it has ended nicely," she said, moving up to kiss his cheek.

"Well good. I like these shorts by the way. I'm guessing you wore them so it would make me want to grab your butt. You failed, because I will not grab it. I'm sorry."

She fought to contain her laughter, faking disappointment, "Awwww, please? Please grab it?" she made a pouty face.

He shook his head, "Oh all right!" He squeezed the cheek closest to his hand and then slapped it a couple times. "There. Now, I'm going to sleep."

Denise smiled, chuckling to herself. "You're so silly." She rolled over and fell asleep in his arms. It was a wonderful end to a horrible day.

Chapter 3

Both Christmas Eve and Day were pleasant. They spent the days together eating sandwiches and whatever else they could find. By the evening of the 25th there was nothing left to eat in Henry's apartment.

They watched movies, cuddling on the couch; they held hands as they went on a few long walks. Later in the evening on Christmas Day they exchanged presents. Denise got him new boxer shorts, socks, and a gift certificate to a men's clothing store. Since Henry is horrible at buying presents, he got her two gift certificates - one to Victoria's Secret and one to another women's clothing store. She made fun of him for the Victoria's Secret certificate. He shrugged it off, claiming he had no idea what to get her. He figured since she was a woman she may want to get something from that store. All in all it was two best friends of the opposite sex enjoying each other's company. They just so happened to be mother and child.

The next day they both had to go back to work. Since Henry lived about an hour away from Denise's former home, the commute to her work was a little longer, maybe 35 minutes instead of 25, but she didn't care. When she got home, she discovered Henry had already gone to the store and he was in the process of cooking spaghetti. She smiled at him, "He's so amazing," she thought to herself. She helped him finish cooking it; they ate, and then cuddled on the couch to watch TV.

The next night after dinner, Henry spoke up, "So mom, I was thinking I would take you out for New Year's Eve."

"Take me out?"

"Yes, like, to dinner perhaps? I know a nice place we can go. It'll be fun. We can go eat and come back here and watch the ball drop. It'll be nice to get you out of the apartment," he explained.

"Hmmm, well, ok!" She perked up. "I'm looking forward to this! So will it be a, uh, you know, date?" she asked, jabbing his side.

He laughed, nodding his head. "Sure why not." That night, in his bed, she thought what dress she would wear their date. Her hand was under his t-shirt, slowly circling his stomach.

On the 31st Denise went to her former home to pick up a few items. Wayne was in the basement, she didn't speak to him, and she didn't acknowledge him. She packed boxes and left. She had a wonderful evening to prepare for; Wayne wasn't going to bring her down.

A wonderful evening it was. Henry wore a shirt and tie and black slacks, his mother in a somewhat long, sleeveless, black dress with a good bit of cleavage showing.

"That's a lovely dress by the way. You look great in it," Henry complimented his mother, sitting at the candle lit table. It was a fairly expensive restaurant that Henry made reservations for a few days prior. Denise blushed, smiling as she sat. After dinner they had coffee, sitting and talking for a couple hours. They got home at 11:30 pm.

Denise sat on the couch drinking another glass of champagne, her black high heels off and her feet tucked up under her bottom. Henry joined her, sitting next to her with his own glass. He turned the TV on, the two of them sitting in silence for a few moments.

"I think this new year will be better for you Mom," said Henry, smiling at his mother.

"Yeah! I think so too," she replied, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "By the way, you don't have to kiss me if you don't want to."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Denise chuckled, "Are you serious? At midnight?"

"What about it?"

"Don't you know of the tradition at midnight on New Year's?"

"What tradition?" he asked.

"Oh my..." she shook her head, "when the ball drops and it strikes midnight, if you are with someone, you drink then give each other a kiss. I can't believe you didn't know about that."

"Well, I'm not the most sociable creature. I haven't done much dating or New Year's parties," he tried to explain.

"It's ok baby. That's the tradition, but you don't have to go through with it."

"Well if it's tradition, now I gotta!"

"No! You don't have to!"

Henry shrugged, "Might as well. It's no big deal Mom. So how does it work? Ball drops, we sip our drink, and then a kiss on the lips?"

She chuckled, "Yeah pretty much. Are you sure want to do that?"

"Yeah it'll be fun. It's just us after all." He said, repositioning himself on the couch to face her.

"Alright well you better get ready, 10 seconds."

"Ok I can do this!" he cheered himself on as the TV counted down.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1. They counted with the TV, saying happy New Year. "Ok, so now we drink," Henry said, doing so along with his mother.

"Right," she replied, sitting her glass down.

"And now, " he cleared his throat, "this."

He moved closer to her, as she smiled at his silliness. As he got within inches, she stuck her tongue out, wiggling it around.

"Hey! I'm trying to be serious." Henry cried out.

"Well so was I! You don't like tongue?" Denise countered.

"Mom, come on. Ok?"

"Ok," she sighed. Henry moved closer, slowly moving his hands to her face, holding it gently; he moved in and kissed her lips softly, sweetly, for about 5 seconds. It was beautiful, loving, and precious.

"There. See that was nice." He said, sitting back to his original position, grabbing the remote.

Denise looked on in trance, her eyes wide open. "Yeah, nice..." She whispered, slowing turning to face the TV. "Wow," she thought to herself, glancing over to her son as he laughed at something on the TV. She smiled to herself, leaning into him; he put his arm around her.

About 30 minutes later, she got up and went to change into her pajamas. She felt weird, not really in a bad way, but weird nonetheless. Perhaps she was a little uncomfortable at the electric tingles she felt from his kiss. As a result, she felt the need to sleep alone that night.

"Hey baby, I think I'll sleep in the other room tonight," she said, peering around the corner at Henry still sitting on the couch.

"Oh ok, I see, you're sick of me already. I get it." Henry replied, pretending to be offended.

"No!" his mother laughed, "I just figured it'd be nice to have more room sometimes. We can share a bed on another night."

"Ok Mom, no problem. I'll see you tomorrow!"

Denise said good night and headed to the other bedroom. She changed into her pajamas then slid into bed. She touched her lips, smiling, rolling over to drift off to sleep.

Chapter 4

January was filled with joy, laugher, and dates with Henry. It's like he was home from college for the summer. They would joke around, flirting with each other, all in good fun. Since they usually talked for hours when together, they typically only shared a bed on the weekend, just like they had done when he was home on break and could sleep late the next morning. They would chat, laughing until well after midnight, falling asleep in each others arms.

Denise even managed to drag her son shopping. She used her gift cards to buy a few things. She was happy, the anger she felt from losing the house diminishing each week.

February 14th was one of the best days of her life. The evening, however, was fraught with confusion and self-doubt.

Flowers arrived for her at work, a bouquet of roses from Henry. He added a note saying he loved her, explaining that he made reservations at the same upscale restaurant from New Year's Eve. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and smiled, putting the roses in water.

The meal and company were wonderful as usual. He wore a new shirt and tie Denise picked out for him on one of their shopping trips a couple weeks earlier. She wore dark blue, almost black from a distance, dress that ended at her knees. It had long sleeves. They shared a dessert, and then left the restaurant holding hands, laughing as they chatted.

Back at his apartment she poured him another glass of wine and sat next to him on the couch. They sipped a little, as Denise looked around the room. "Can we move this coffee table out of the way?"

"What for?"

"So we can dance." She replied.

"Oh no. No, I don't think so. I'm not dancing to that crazy hip hop stuff you and your friends dance to when you all go out."

Denise laughed, "No silly, I meant a slow song."

"You want to slow dance with me?"

"Sure, I think that'd be a great end to a great Valentine's evening. Don't you? A nice dance with my wonderful date."

"Alright," he shrugged.

"Great!" She got up to move the small table out of the way. She kicked her high heels off, sitting on the floor to examine his collection of music in the cabinet next to the TV.

"Crap, crap, crap, and more crap. All this music is crap." She said as Henry rolled his eyes.

"Ooh here's one that might work." She opened the CD and popped it into the player. It was a best of the 90's collection. She navigated to the track she liked and it started playing. It was Linger by The Cranberries. Maybe not a perfect song to slow dance to, but it'll work.

Denise held out her hand to her son, who grabbed it and stood. She smiled up at him, wrapping her hands around his neck as he placed his hands on her waist. They moved in circles slowly, looking into each other's eyes. Near the end of the song, her smile faded, and her heart beat faster and faster. It was a beautiful moment and she couldn't process it. When the song ended, Henry bent down to hug her close. All she could do was thank him for a wonderful evening.

"No, thank you. I had a great time," he paused, looking down into her eyes, "You really are a beautiful woman, inside and out, and I'm glad I was able to spend Valentine's with you."

Denise fought back tears, holding him in a long embrace. He ran his hands up and down her back, stopping just short of the rise of her butt. She closed her eyes, smiling as they stood there for a few moments. It felt peaceful and it felt like home.

She turned her head, kissing him slowly on the cheek. When he started to straighten back up, she kissed his lips. It was a reflex action, she couldn't help it. Except he was too slow to straighten himself and she kissed him again, a quick peck on the lips. He smiled and looked in to her eyes. She caressed his face then closed her eyes, kissing him a third time. It was a harder kiss that lasted a little longer than the one on New Year's. When it was over Denise looked downward, resting her head on his chest. She sighed, admonishing herself for doing that. She felt stupid. Henry just stood there running his hands up and down her back.

"I'm going to head off to bed." She patted his chest, backing away. "Thank you again for this wonderful evening Henry." She said, trying to mask her embarrassment.

Henry nodded, smiling as he watched her exit to her room. She closed the bedroom door behind her, not bothering changing out of her dress. She flopped down on the bed and rolled over.

"Why did I do that? What was I thinking? So stupid! I was just caught up in the moment. Ugh! Maybe it's no big deal, maybe that's just how we'll be. We'll give each other a sweet kiss on special occasions. Yeah that's it. So what if I felt another electric tingle, I mean, it was nice. Really nice." She thought to herself, trying to make sense of what happened. "He's wonderful, and I love him, and it was just a kiss on a special night. That's all."

She rolled to her other side, drifting to sleep, still feeling uneasy about the situation.

Chapter 5

"Are you sure you don't want to go out with us this weekend?" Denise asked her son, hugging him from behind while he was eating his cereal in front of the kitchen sink. Her friend Holly had been bugging her for a few weeks, reminding her that she needs to get out more and move on from Wayne. She had moved on from Wayne, she was more upset about the house.

"Yep," he quickly replied.

"Why not make it a birthday thing, you know?"

"Because my birthday is today, and you said you were taking me to dinner tonight, right?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Then that can be all the celebration I need," he said, putting his dirty dish in the sink, turning around to face his mother. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her head. "Alright, I gotta go. See you tonight."

After he left for work Denise thought about the evening ahead. "Ok so it's a special occasion, I'll give him a sweet, little kiss on the lips. That's it. Nothing to it. A nice little 'I love you' kiss."

It was unusually warm for Miami on the evening of March 18th -- Henry's birthday. Denise wore an off-white, simple, spaghetti strapped dress that came to her knees. There was, as was the case with most of her large dress collection, a fair amount of cleavage showing.

Dinner at the same restaurant they had used before went off without a hitch. However, as is the case, plans don't always pan out the way they were intended. Denise had it planned out: a wonderful dinner with her son, followed by quality time on the couch, and then a sweet kiss goodnight. That was it. It was going to be great. Such a simple plan can be complicated when too much alcohol is consumed.

Back at the apartment, after dinner, Denise was working on her third glass of wine; Henry on his second. He sat on the couch, watching her giggle in the kitchen. She made her way toward him, not sitting next to him like she had been. Instead she hiked up her dress to just below her crotch and straddled him much to his surprise. He simply laughed it off, tilting his head back, resting it on the top of the couch, looking up at her.

"Are you ok? I'm not too heavy am I?" she asked.

"Nope, you're fine."

"I'm not too bony?"

"No. You feel great. I mean, well, you know what I mean." He replied with a chuckle.

"Yes I do, silly boy." She said, running her fingers through his hair. "Are you sure you don't want to come out with us this Saturday?"

"Mom, I'm sure." He said slightly annoyed.

"You never know, you might meet a cute girl," she said, starting to undo his tie.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep," she tossed his tie to the side.

"I don't know, maybe I'll go out with you all one day, but I'm just not into all that."

"I 'd really like you to go. You'd have a great time with us." She said, unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt.

"I guess that means Holly would be there, right?"

"Don't you worry about her, I'll make sure she keeps her claws off you." She said, unbuttoning two more buttons.

"Good." He closed his eyes, leaning back.

"Yep, I'd make it clear that you are with me. We'll be dancing the night away. So much fun!"

"Maybe so Mom."

Denise unbuttoned another button and Henry looked down to see his open shirt. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Nothing." Denise replied mischievously, running her hands over his chest.

"Uh huh, " he smiled, rolling his eyes, as he lay his head back.

Denise leaned down to kiss his cheek, peppering his jaw line with a few more. "Happy birthday darling." She said, caressing his face, looking into his eyes.

"Thank you," he replied, smiling weakly.

Then she did it, she kissed him on the lips. But it was too fast, too hard, not what she had imagined. She didn't imagine she'd be straddling him on the couch either, but the wine changed that. It lasted about 4 seconds. When it was over they peered into each other's eyes, Denise's thumb still on his cheek, holding his face. It may have been several more seconds before she closed her eyes and inched forward to kiss him again, slowly this time. Just as their lips were about to make contact, Henry's cell phone rang on the table next to the couch. It startled her a bit, her eyes popping open; she could see that his eyes were closed. A second later he opened them and reached over to answer his phone. Denise sighed, getting off his lap, walking toward her room as he answered a question to a coworker who had to work late on a project. She turned around, looking at him so see himself adjusting his pants where the crotch was.

"Sure. Yep, I saved it on the shared drive. Should be there. Ok, no problem," Henry said into the phone.

Denise was putting on a white tank top and a pair of Henry's old boxer shorts that she used for pajama bottoms. She loved to wear boxers and Henry gave her several pairs since she had given him new ones for Christmas. She heard a knock at the door as she was sliding into bed.

"Mom?"

"Come in." she said flatly.

"Hey. I just wanted to say good night and thanks for a great birthday." Henry said, standing in the open doorway.

She smiled in an attempt to hide any awkward tension between the two, "Oh, well goodnight baby, I'm glad you had a good day."

"Yeah," he smiled. "Ok well sleep well and I'll see you tomorrow. I love you"

"I love you too," she smiled back, watching him close the door. She sat there for a few moments before sliding under the covers.

"What is going on here? What's wrong with you? Why was he adjusting his pants? You wanted to kiss him again didn't you Denise? Why? This is stupid! You're just confused and lonely, that's it" she thought to herself, pondering the situation for over an hour before sleep took her.

A few days had passed. Things were a little different between the two of them. The vibe in the air was the equivalent of two coworkers hanging out after work and they may have flirted a little more than was appropriate. The coworkers realized this and not wanting to get in trouble at home or the office, they had an unspoken agreement they would remain professional and friendly.

She told herself she wouldn't kiss him like that ever again. They stepped on a line and thankfully did not cross it. This caused some sadness within her. Sadness that turned to something entirely different the night before her and her girls went out.

She saw Henry naked. It was an accident of course. Denise came home from work earlier than normal. Henry was already there as usual. The last few days had been hard for her. Since her decision to never kiss him like that again, she was feeling a little blue. She didn't bother calling out to him, announcing her arrival, she just wanted to get into her pajamas.

As Denise entered the apartment, she thought she heard something in his bedroom. She kicked off her shoes on the carpet, sneaking to his half open door. Her eyes widened and mouth dropped open.

Denise tried to look away, she yelled at herself to turn around and run, but she was frozen. She stopped breathing, her heart stopped beating, and her eyes didn't blink. She couldn't take her eyes off it. He must've just masturbated in the shower, that's the only explanation for its size in its half erect state. While she had seen bigger before, there was something different about his that she couldn't put her finger on.